The Australian share market ended higher on Thursday, with the turnaround from the week's lows reflecting some remaining caution by investors.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 stock index was up 13.9 points or 0.24 percent at 5,890.7, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 13.7 points or 0.23 percent at 5,995.2.

CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner told Xinhua buyers were probably "just taking a wait-and-see attitude, particularly against the background of rising bond yields in the U.S. again over the last couple of days", which was what triggered the widespread selloff late last week extending to global markets before recovering some ground in recent trading.

Adding to that caution was the decline in oil prices, which put pressure on the energy sector, he said.

Focus was also turning to specific stocks as the profit-reporting season got under way, such as a marked rise in the National Australia Bank's share price "despite a relatively neutral quarterly trading update ... Obviously some investors are seeing it as being good enough to attract a bit of bargain hunting," said Spooner.

The bank itself ended 2.34 percent higher, while other big lenders ANZ added 0.79 percent and Westpac gained 0.33 percent. Commonwealth Bank slipped 0.37 percent.

Mining giant BHP Billiton fell 1.37 percent and rival Rio Tinto was down 0.98 percent. Gold miner Newcrest slipped 0.87 percent.

Oil and gas major Santos fell 1.59 percent and Woodside Petroleum lost 2.09 percent.

Woolworths gained 0.6 percent while rival supermarket chain Wesfarmers slipped 0.1 percent.

National carrier Qantas dipped 1.15 percent, telco giant Telstra added 1.71 percent and biomed group CSL was up 0.39 percent.